Woman Who Shot Son at Gun Range Said She Was Anti-Christ, Needed to Save Him

The Associated Press

Wednesday

Apr 8, 2009 at 5:16 PM

A woman who fatally shot her 20-year-old son then killed herself at a shooting range left recorded messages that said she was the anti-Christ and that she needed to save her son.

CASSELBERRY | A woman who fatally shot her 20-year-old son then killed herself at a shooting range left recorded messages that said she was the anti-Christ and that she needed to save her son.

In rambling, teary audio recordings left for her boyfriend and authorities, as well as shorter suicide notes, Marie Moore, 44, apologized several times and said repeatedly: "I had to send my son to heaven and myself to Hell."

Authorities said Wednesday they still had no motive for the murder-suicide that shocked fellow customers and employees at the Shoot Straight range in Casselberry, about 10 miles north of Orlando, on Sunday.

"We have no clue. I don't even want to begin to speculate," said Deputy Chief Bill McNeil of the Casselberry Police Department.

The gun range's security video shows 20-year-old Mitchell Moore taking aim at a target in a booth when his mother, 44, walks up behind him and points a gun at the back of his head. In the next frame, the son is seen falling to the ground and a nearby patron appears to alert others as he points to the unseen carnage.

The gun used was rented at the range.

According to a police report, earlier footage from the surveillance video shows the mother and son taking turns shooting and talking with other customers in the adjacent lane. "They seem to be getting along fine," one of the responding officers said.

Mitchell's father, Charles Moore, told police that Marie Moore had a history of mental illness, had previously attempted suicide and been involuntarily committed to a mental hospital in 2002 under the Florida law known as the Baker Act.

Marie Moore refers to the incident in records she left for police and Shoot Straight, saying she spent a year in and out of a "mental home" but insisted: "I'm not sick." Family members found the audio tapes and three suicide notes late Monday and gave them to police.

"I'm sorry to do this in your place of business, but I had to save my son," one message said. "God made me a queen and I failed. I'm a fallen angel. He turned me into the anti-Christ."

Moore said she could have killed only herself but felt she had to "save" her son and do it in a public way so the world could also be saved. "Hopefully when I die, there will 1,000 years of peace."

She apologized to her boyfriend for hiding her plans from him, but added: "You would've Baker Acted me ... and I wouldn't have been able to try to save Mitch."

Larry Anderson, a manager at Shoot Straight, said it's unclear whether the Moores had been to the range before, but they weren't regular customers. The range requires customers fill out a form with a series of questions, including whether they have been convicted of a felony or been declared mentally unstable, but Anderson said they have no way to verify the information.

Anderson defended the range's policies, saying: "If someone acts right, we have to assume they are right."

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